Steel forming dies



y 1962 A. HANAK 3,036,623

STEEL FORMING DIES Fi led Nov. 16, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheeti 1| I. INVENTOR A/vro/v #A/VAK /0 LJ w A TTOR/VE) May 29, 1962 A. HANAK 3,036,623

STEEL FORMING DIES Filed Nov. 16, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 Z7AM ATTOR/VI) United. rates ifatent @f 3,036,623 STEEL FORMEIG DIES Anton Hanak, Saginaw, Mich. (3095 Shiawassee Road, Fenton, Mich.) Filed Nov. 16, 1959, Ser. No. 853,283 Claims. (Cl. 153-32) This invention relates to steel forming dies and more particularly pertains to an automobile bumper straightening anvil-die for reforming distorted bumpers to their original design conformation.

Various types of draw and press dies have been employed heretofore to make bumpers originally but none are adequate to straighten automobile bumpers distorted in collisions; the several straightening devices of the prior art have not proven entirely satisfactory inasmuch as the draw and press dies are entirely too expensive for repair work and require new straight unbent stock and the devices heretofore used do not have the proper holding and forming facilities to effect properly straightening the distorted bumped to its original design conformation and moreover the devices of the prior art are complicated in design and construction, expensive to manufacture, difficult to use, and unsatisfactory in actual use.

Due to the complex and compound conformation of a modern automobile bumper, the repair art of the present day finds it commercially impossible to reform and repair a distorted automobile bumper to its original design conformation due to the fact that the complex, compound and reverse curves, indentations, tangents and the reduced and enlarged sections are too complicated and as a result it is necessary to discard the distorted bumpers and replace them with new bumpers which is exceedingly expensive.

With the foregoing in view, the primary object of the invention is to provide an anvil-die for reforming distorted bumpers to their original design conformation which is simple in design and construction, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to use, and easy to correct a distorted bumper to its original desgin conformation.

An object of the invention is to provide a face for the novel anvil-die which has the exact original design mating conformation of the inside of a straight bumper hereinafter referred to as the male type or the outside of the straight bumper as originally designed hereinafter referred to as the female type.

An object of the invention is to provide an anvil-die which can be manufactured inexpensively as the component parts are readily made and the assembly of parts readily accomplished.

An object of the invention is to provide an anvil-die for reforming distorted bumpers which can be operated with facility by ordinary unskilled labor.

An object of the invention is to provide an anvil-die to which a distorted bumper can be easily forceably fitted and hammered into conformnig shape and from which the corrected bumper is easily released and removed.

An object of the invention is to provide a die face plate formed of segments of a cut up straight bumper interconnected by welded material and sized to matingly fit the inside dimension or the outside dimension of a straight bumper so as to provide a forming matrix for the distorted bumper to be compressed against and hammered into non-resisting conformation.

An object of the invention is to provide reinforcing plates welded to the forming matrix lateral edges in conformation size and shape to the reformed bumper at their back sides to reinforce the reformed bumper matrix at its lateral edges.

An object of the invention is to interconnect the reinforcement plates with tie-bars to maintain their spaced 3,fl36,623 Patented May 29, 1962 ine parallel relationship in supporting condition to the reformed bumper matrix.

An object of the invention is to fill the space between the parallel plates and abutting the back side of the reformed bumper matrix with a high compressive and impact resistant grout integrating the reformed bumper, plates, cross-tie bars, and the grout into a solid dense mass of anvil-die characteristics.

An object of the invention is to provide toggle clamps and compression chains looped over the reformed bumper matrix so as to be capable of compressing a distorted bumper thereagainst in conforming relationship thereto.

An object of the invention is to provide legs on the anvil-die for supporting same at working height for a standing man.

An object of the invention is to preferably dispose the anvil-die vertically so that distorted bumpers can be vertically dropped thereon so that the surface to be worked on is exposed in convenient hammering location.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent by reference to the following description of an anvil-die for repairing distorted bumpers to their original design conformation embodying the invention taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective View from the face side of a c raight bumper shown in its original design conformatron.

PEG. 2 is a perspective view of the front view of a like bumper seen in FIG. 1 wherein the bumper is cut into sections with material removed between the sections.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the cut up segmented bumper of FIG. 2 shown disposed within the straight bumper of FIG. 1 with the outside face dimension of the segmented bumper of FIG. 2 conforming to the inside face dimension of the straight bumper of FIG. 1; the segments being welded together.

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of a male anvil-die showing the reformed and rewelded segmented bumper of d6. 3 Welded to the supporting plates and legs.

MG. 5 is the reverse side plan view of the anvil-die seen in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view of FIG. 4 taken on the line 6-6 thereof; and

FIG. 7 is a side plan view of a female type die similar to FIG. 4-.

Referring now to the drawing wherein like numerals refer to like and corresponding parts throughout the several views, the device for reforming distorted bumpers disclosed therein to illustrate the invention comp-rises an anvil-die 16, FIGS. 46, having a matrix shoe M for reforming distorted bumpers to their original conformation; this shoe comprises a straight bumper of the originally designed conformation such as seen in FIG. 1 segmented into sections such as seen in FIG. 2 and rewelded together as seen in FIGS. 3-7 with said sections being arranged on the face or back side of a straight unsegmented bumper 11a, FIG. 1. The segmented bumper 1111, FIG. 2, is thus reformed by disposing it on the outside or inside face of the straight bumper 11a, PEG. 1, and then clamped and Welded in position so as to conform thereto with the welding material lying between the segmented sections holding same together as a reformed bumper male or female matrix shoe. The thus formed matrix shoe 11 has a face side 12, FIG. 3, a back side 13, and lateral edges 14 and 14a respectively. The spaced parallel steel plates 15 and 16 have a mating edge 17 and'lfi respectively of the conformation, size, and shape of the reformed bumper matrix 11 back side and the plate edges are welded to the matrix edges 14 and 14a respectively so as to support the reformed bumper matrix shoe in its side edge area. Tie bars 19 interconnect the plates to hold them in positions and the plates 15 and 16 and the matrix 11 together define an internal cavity in conjunction with one another wherein is disposed a high compressive and impact resistant grout 20 integrating the reformed bumper matrix shoe 11, the plates 15 and 16, the cross tie bars 19, and the grout 20 into a solid dense mass of anvil-die characteristics supporting the matrix shoe 11.

More particularly, the anvil-die is supported on legs 22 welded to the bottom edges of the plates and 16 so as to support the anvil-die 116 in a vertical position substantially at working height to a standing man for conveniently placing a distorted bumper 30 to be straightened thereon.

The lugs 31 are welded to one side of the plates 15 and/or 16 and are equipped with pin receiving apertures through which the pins. 32 are disposed pivotally supporting the levers 33 which are equipped with toggle links 34 pivotally connected adjacent the pivot point of the lever at the pin 32 with the pivot point of the toggle links 34 being spaced inside the pivot point of the lever around the pin 32 so as to lock when by-passed by said lever pin and chains 35 are connected to the toggle link 34 and lead over the matrix shoe 11 and distorted bumper 30 disposed thereon and are secured in the cleats 36 and it is to be noted that the cleats 36 and lever arrangements are disposed on both sides of the anvil-die 10 so as to provide room for swinging the levers 33 and to hold down and compress all portions of the distorted bumpers 30 against the matrix shoe 11.

The matrix shoe 11 has been found to be easily made by segmenting a like bumper 11a, FIG. 1, into segments lllb, FIG. 2, and then placing the segments 11b on one side or the other such as the inside or the outside face of the straight bumper 11a and then welding them into place and position in conformation to the selected inside face or the outside face of the straight bumper 11a whereupon the welding operation being completed, the re-welded and re-formed matrix shoe 11 is then turned over and welded on the other side to complete welding; the side to be used is then ground flush and for all intents and purposes with proper welding and grinding, the surface appears to be one piece and acts as an anvildie shoe without fracturing in conjunction with the supporting plates 15 and 16 and the grout 20. This provides a very inexpensive and highly effective matrix shoe exactly matingly conforming to the bumper original design form so that upon forcing a distorted bumper of like original design thereover, pulling it down with the levers and chains, and hammering the metal, the distorted bumper 30 is reformed to its original design conformation.

The grout preferably used in filling the inside of the cavity between the matrix shoe 11 and the plates 15 and 16 is preferably Embeco non-shrink grouting material aggregate which is mixed with sand and Portland cement as per the directions furnished with the Embeco grout by the Master Builders Company, division of the American-Marietta Company of Cleveland, Ohio; however, any other grout which has a tendency to expand rather than to shrink can be used so that the inside of the anvil-die 11 is actually under pressure adequately supporting the matrix shoe 11 against the compressive forces of the chains and levers and the anvil hammering thereon.

In operation the user makes the matrix shoe and integrates it with the plates, grout, chains and levers as hereinafter described and then takes a distorted bumper and places it over the matrix shoe 11 and places the chains in the cleats 36 with the levers in the up position, not shown, and then throws the levers 31 to the down or clamping position shown thereby drawing the chains under extremely high tension so as to force the distorted bumper 30 into closely conforming relationship with the matrix shoe 11 as shown in FIGS. 4-6; the user then taps the distorted bumper 30 in its chained down and compressed position with a machine hammer at the more distorted points so as to iiow the metal of the distorted bumper 3% back to its normal position thereby permanently correcting the distortion of the distorted bumper 30 to the originally designed conformation such as seen in FIG. 1 in the bumper 11a. p

it has been found that badly distorted bumpers which heretofore repair men universally agreed were beyond repair or reclaiming can be placed on the proper matrix shoe 11 and forced into position by the chains and levers and then hammered to permanently change the metal in a very few minutes as the device can be operated almost as fast as a man can place the distorted bumper on the device, chain it down, throw the levers, and tap the bumper at the desired points, and due to the fact that the anvil-die '10 is solid, only light and relatively few hammer blows need be struck due to the practically immovable mass of the anvil-die 10.

It is to be understood that the foregoing description of the male type die is equally applicable to the female type die 40 seen in FIG. 7 and the user can decide which type of die would be suitable for the particular conformation of the bumper to be repaired and make his choice as to whether or not to integrate the anvil-die as a female or male type prior to its construction.

Due to the fact that the anvil-die 10 with the matrix shoe thereon can be manufactured inexpensively, economically, and rapidly, it is possible for a central bumper repair shop to make anvil-dies for the numerous types of motor vehicle models year by year and to accept orders from various car dealers and repair men in gross lots and repair them to the point that they can hardly be recognized from a new straight bumper.

Although but a single embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail, it is obvious that many changes may be made in the size, shape, detail, and arrangement of the various elements of the invention within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An automobile bumper straightening anvil-die having a matrix shoe for reforming distorted bumpers to their designed conformation thereon comprising a straight bumper of the originally designed conformation segmented into sections; said sections being matingly arranged with one side of the dimension, size, and conformation of the opposite side of a straight unsegmented bumper; Welding material holding said sections together as a reformed bumper matrix shoe; said reformed bumper matrix shoe having a face side, a back side, and lateral edges; spaced parallel steel plates having an edge of the conformation, size, and shape of said reformed bumper matrix shoe side at its lateral edges disposed against said matrix shoe back at said lateral edges and welded thereto reinforcing said reformed bumper matrix shoe at its lateral edges, tie bars between said plates, high compressive and impact resistant grout disposed between said plates abutting said reformed bumper matrix shoe and integrating said reformed bumper matrix shoe, plates, cross tie bars, and grout into a solid dense mass of anvil-die characteristics supporting said matrix shoe; said plates being vertically disposed with said reformed bumper matrix shoe disposed upwardly; said plates having bottom edges; legs welded to said plates bottom edges supporting said plates with said matrix shoe disposed upwardly substantially at working height relative to a standing man; said plates having exposed sides, pivot lugs having a pivot pin receiving aperture welded to one said plate exposed side, pivot pins disposed in said lug apertures, a lever pivotally disposed on said pivot pin, toggle links pivotally attached to each said lever at a point inside said lever pivot point so as to look when by-passed by said lever pin, compression chains on said toggle links having ends leading over said reformed bumper matrix shoe to the exposed side of said other plate, chain engagmg cleats on said other plates exposed side engaging said compression chain ends; said cleats, chains, toggle links, and levers being adapted to forceably bend a distorted bumper requiring repair disposed on said reformed bumper matrix shoe into mating relationship therewith to force the distorted bumper into originally designed conformation; said distorted bumper being permanently corrected by hammering said distorted bumper against the dense mass of the anvil die and matrix shoe.

2. An Automobile bumper straightening anvil-die having a matrix shoe for reforming distorted bumpers to their designed conformation thereon comprising a straight bumper of the originally designed conformation segmented into sections; said sections being matingly arranged with one side of the dimension, size, and conformation of the opposite side of a straight unsegmented bumper; welding material holding said sections together as a reformed bumper matrix shoe; said reformed bumper matrix shoe having a face side, a back side, and lateral edges; spaced parallel steel plates having an edge conforming to said matrix shoe at its lateral edges disposed against said matrix shoe at said lateral edges and welded thereto reinforcing said reformed bumper matrix shoe at its lateral edges, high compressive and impact resistant grout disposed between said plates abutting said reformed bumper matrix shoe integrating said reformed bumper matrix shoe, plates, and grout into a solid mass of anvil die characteristics supporting said matrix shoe; said plates having exposed sides, pivot lugs having a pivot pin receiving aperture welded to one said plate exposed side, pivot pin disposed in said lug apertures, a lever pivotally disposed on said pivot pin, toggle links pivotally attached to each said lever at a point inside said lever pivot pin so as to lock when bypassed by said lever pin, compression chains on said toggle links having ends leading over said reformed bumper matrix shoe to the exposed side of said other plate, chain engaging cleats on said other plates exposed side engaging said compression chain ends; said cleats, chains, toggle links, and levers being adapted to forceably bend a distorted bumper requiring repair disposed with on said reformed bumper matrix shoe into mating relationship therewith to force the distorted bumper into originally designed conformation in position for hammering said distorted bumper against the dense mass of the anvil die and matrix shoe.

3. An automobile bumper straightening anvil-die having a matrix shoe for reforming distorted bumpers to their designed conformation thereon comprising a straight bumper of the originally designed conformation segmented into sections; said sections being matingly arranged with one side of the dimension, size, and conformation of the opposite side of a straight unsegmented bumper; welding material holding said sections together as a reformed bumper matrix shoe; said reformed bumper matrix shoe having a face side, a back side, and lateral edges; steel plates having an edge conforming to said matrix shoe at its lateral edges disposed against said matrix shoe lateral edges and welded thereto, high compressive and impact resistant grout disposed between said plates abutting said reformed bumper matrix shoe integrating said matrix shoe, plates, and grout into a solid dense mass of anvil-die characteristics supporting said matrix shoe; and means for forcing a part to be repaired against said matrix shoe.

4. An automobile bumper straightening anvil-die having a matrix shoe for reforming distorted bumpers to their designed conformation thereon comprising a straight bumper of the originally designed conformation normally having a face side of a larger dimension and a back side of a smaller dimension relative to each other segmented into smaller than normal size sections with material removed between the sections reducing their normal face dimension with said sections being matingly arranged with their face side on the dimension, size, and conformation of the back side of a straight unsegmented bumper; welding material between said sections holding same together as a reformed bumper male matrix shoe; said reformed bumper matrix shoe having a face side, a back side, and lateral edges; spaced parallel steel plates having a mating edge of the conformation, size, and shape of said reformed bumper matrix shoe back side at said lateral edges disposed against said reformed bumper matrix shoe back side at said lateral edges and Welded thereto reinforcing said reformed bumper matrix shoe at its lateral edges, tie bars between said plates, high compressive and impact resistant grout disposed between said plates abutting said reformed bumper matrix shoe back side integrating said reformed bumper matrix shoe, plates, cross tie bars, and grout into a solid dense mass of anvil die characteristics supporting said matrix shoe; said plates being vertically disposed with said reformed bumper matrix shoe (back) face side disposed upwardly; said plates having bottom edges; legs welded to said plates bottom edges supporting said plates with said reformed bumper matrix shoe face side disposed upwardly at substantially working height relative to a standing man; said plates having exposed sides, pivot lugs having a pivot pin receiving aperture welded to one said plate exposed side, pivot pins disposed in said lug apertures, a lever pivotally disposed on said pivot pin, toggle links pivotally attached to each said lever at a point inside said lever pivot pin so as to lock when bypassed by said lever pin, compression chains on said toggle links having ends leading over said reformed bumper matrix shoe (back) face side to the exposed side of said other plate, chain engaging cleats on said other plates exposed side engaging said compression chain ends; said cleats, chains, toggle links, and levers being adapted to forceably bend a distorted bumper requiring repair disposed with its back side over said reformed bumper matrix shoe face side into mating relationship therewith to force the distorted bumper into originally designed conformation; said distorted bumper being permanently corrected by hammering said distorted bumper against the dense mass of the anvil die and matrix shoe.

5. An automobile bumper straightening anvil-die having a matrix shoe for reforming distorted bumpers to their designed conformation thereon comprising a straight bumper of the originally designed conformation normally having a face side of a larger dimension and a back side of a small dimension relative to each other segmented into sections with material added between the sections increasing their normal back dimension with said sections being matingly arranged with their back side on the dimension, size, and conformation of the face side of a straight unsegmented bumper; welding material be tween said sections holding same together as a reformed bumper female matrix shoe; said reformed bumper matrix shoe having a face side, a back side, and lateral edges; spaced parallel steel plates having a mating edge of the conformation, size, and shape of said reformed bumper matrix shoe face side at said lateral edges disposed against said reformed bumper matrix shoe face side at said lateral edges and welded thereto reinforcing said reformed bumper matrix shoe at its lateral edges, tie bars between said plates, high compressive and impact resistant grout disposed between said plates abutting said reformed bumper matrix shoe face side integrating said reformed bumper matrix shoe, plates, cross tie bars, and grout into a solid dense mass of anvil die characteristics supporting said matrix shoe; said plates being vertically disposed with said reformed bumper matrix shoe back side disposed upwardly; said plates having bottom edges; legs welded to said plates bottom edges supporting said plates with said reformed bumper matrix shoe back side disposed upwardly substantially at working height relative to a standing man; said plates having exposed sides, pivot lugs having a pivot pin receiving aperture welded to one said plate exposed side, pivot pins disposed in said lug apertures, a lever pivotally disposed on said pivot pin, toggle links pivotally attached to each said lever at a point inside said lever pivot pin so as to lock when bypassed by said lever pin, compression chains on said toggle links having ends leading over said reformed bumper matrix shoe back side to the exposed side of said other plate, chain engaging cleats on said other plates exposed side engaging said compression chain ends; said cleats, chains, toggle links, and levers being adapted to forceably bend a distorted bumper requiring repair disposed with its face side within said reformed bumper matrix shoe back side into mating relationship therewith to force the distorted bumper into originally designed conformation; said distorted bumper being permanently corrected by hammering said distorted bumper against the dense mass of the anvil die and matrix shoe.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

